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Flywl - Reimagining how Cloud Marketplaces Work by Creating a Completely New Way for Enterprises to Discover, Evaluate, and Purchase Software

Ankur Srivastava

Founder CEO

Flywl

Interview conducted by:

Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor

CEOCFO Magazine

CEOCFO: Mr. Srivastava, what is the idea behind Flywl?

Mr. Srivastava: Having spent five years at AWS helping software companies discover and harness the power of marketplaces, I had a unique position of working closely with buyers and sellers to understand how they navigated cloud marketplaces. What became clear was that while there was tremendous innovation on the supply side of sellers, the buyer experience needed work.

Flywl originated because we saw an opportunity to make the buyer journey more succinct, frictionless, and transformative. What we're doing is reimagining how cloud marketplaces work, starting purely from the buyer's perspective. You see, in a world where the supply side has traditionally led marketplaces, we're flipping that model to start with demand. And of course, we still serve sellers - but by putting buyers first, we're creating a completely new way for enterprises to discover, evaluate, and purchase software.

CEOCFO: What are you delivering today?

Mr. Srivastava: Flywl today is already delivering something buyers have never had before: a holistic view across all cloud marketplaces combined with the intelligence to make better decisions. Look, it's not just about seeing what sellers and suppliers are listing - it's about understanding what makes most sense for your business, your cloud commitments, and where you want to go. We help buyers cut through a complex ecosystem that's getting more complicated every day as more sellers join marketplaces, and turn that complexity into clear, actionable decisions. And while we're starting with the buyer experience, we're already working closely with sellers on workflows to help them reach and engage with the right buyers more effectively, including with a view of optimizing their Go-to-market spending with marketplaces.

CEOCFO: What might a buyer see on a typical marketplace and what have you changed so that when they are looking at your offering they will stay and make a purchase?

Mr. Srivastava: Let me explain what's happening in the market right now. Cloud marketplaces solved the first big friction in software buying - that painful process of submitting forms, waiting for sales calls with Sales Development Reps (SDRs) who are usually not very informed about products, and going through months of negotiations with Legal & Procurement. Today, on AWS, Azure, or GCP marketplace, you can discover a solution like Snowflake or Datadog and quickly move to testing and purchasing in months versus years.

But here's the challenge enterprises face now: these marketplaces exist in silos. If you're a large company managing hundreds of software purchases, you're constantly switching between marketplaces, trying to compare offerings, and struggling to optimize your cloud commitments.

You've traded one type of friction for another. This is where Flywl comes in.

We give you a command center across all major marketplaces - think of it as your procurement mission control. You get instant intelligence across vendors, automated workflows that match your policies and preferences, and market insights all in one place. It's not just about making individual purchases faster - it's about giving you true control over your entire cloud and app portfolio. Most importantly, we help you maximize those cloud marketplace commitments you've already made; turning what could be a cost center into a strategic advantage.

CEOCFO: Are buyers realizing there is a better way; are they looking for it or will they be happy when they discover Flywl?

Mr. Srivastava: Here's what's interesting about the market right now. Yes, if you're looking for a single solution, today's cloud marketplaces work well as accelerators. You know what you want; you go get it - simple. But that's not the real challenge Fortune 500 companies face. They're managing thousands and thousands of solutions, and that's where things get complex.

What makes Flywl different is that we meet enterprises exactly where they are in their journey.

First, we help them understand their current technology landscape - what do you have, what's working, what isn't. Then we show them how their existing solutions map to what's available in cloud marketplaces, identifying immediate cost savings opportunities. But it's more than just mapping; our platform provides the intelligence to make strategic decisions about which solutions to move, sunset, or modernize.

Think of us as a 'Sherpa' in their cloud transformation journey. That resonates with buyers because they immediately understand the value - we handle all the complex analysis, the manual work, the decision logic that would typically take their teams months to figure out. We guide them confidently through this transformation, showing them exactly which solutions they should migrate to marketplaces, which ones need updating, and most importantly, how much money they'll save along the way.

When buyers discover this approach, they're not just happy - they're relieved. Finally, there's a way to turn this overwhelming challenge into a strategic process with clear financial benefits.

CEOCFO: How do you help guide a buyer without seeming to be an overbearing salesperson? What is your approach?

Mr. Srivastava: Trust in enterprise software isn't something you can shortcut - it must be earned. I saw this at Oracle and AWS and in my other leadership roles. In my experience, it comes down to three things: First, you must solve a real problem the buyer is facing. Second, you need to show them a clear path to savings. And third - this is crucial - you must help them actually implement those changes. I'm always less focused on selling our product and more excited about helping buyers understand the real savings they can achieve.

Look at what's happening today: Fortune 500 companies are in this complex hybrid state. They're maintaining traditional data centers while exploring cloud options. They're juggling perpetual licenses with new consumption-based models. It's a challenging transition, and we approach it with deep empathy because we've seen how overwhelming it can be.

What makes our approach different is that we don't push buyers to abandon one world for another. Instead, we give them the intelligence to understand both their current state and future possibilities. We help them see exactly how they can optimize spending across traditional software and cloud marketplaces. If they want to stay hybrid? That's perfectly fine - we'll help them maximize savings in both environments.

We built our product with this empathy in mind because we understand that most enterprises are still learning about marketplace commitments and drawdowns. It's not about pushing them to buy - it's about being that trusted guide who can help them navigate this transformation at their own pace, with confidence and clarity.

CEOCFO: What might you look at when you are interacting with a buyer to help figure out the right solutions for them that less knowledgeable sellers do not realize is important?

Mr. Srivastava: One of the most powerful things I've learned in working with buyers is the importance of vulnerability. That might sound surprising in enterprise software, where corporate governance often means holding everything close to the chest. But real transformation starts when a buyer can say, 'I don't know,' 'I think we got this, but I'm not sure,' or 'Is there a better way?'

After nine years in cloud marketplaces, with five of those specifically at AWS, I can tell you something striking: only about 1% of buyers truly understand the full value of cloud marketplaces today. But here's what's fascinating - the companies that openly acknowledge this gap are the ones that see the fastest acceleration in their transformation journey and realize the biggest savings.

The breakthrough usually comes when a buyer says something like, 'I see where we need to go, but I'm not sure how to get there.' That's not weakness - it's strategic wisdom. They understand the benefits are real, but they're honest about needing help to capture them. These are the conversations that lead to real transformation because they open the door to combining their deep knowledge of their business with our expertise in marketplace optimization.

When buyers bring openness to the conversation, that's when we can really help them leverage intelligence to drive transformation. It's not just about understanding the technology - it's about having the confidence to ask the right questions and explore better ways of doing things.

CEOCFO: Would you tell us about your recent funding?

Mr. Srivastava: We recently closed a $7M seed round led by Arun Penmetsa at Storm Ventures. The story behind this funding reflects our company's core mission. After five years in a senior role at AWS marketplace, I took a step back in June to recharge, spend more time with my daughters, and really think about where the market was heading. What became clear was this massive opportunity on the buyer side that no one was addressing.

This vision resonated strongly with our investors. Storm Ventures committed $5 million, followed by Foster Ventures with $1 million, led by Priya Ramachandran, whose experience as a former Coupa leader gave her unique insight into enterprise procurement transformation. We also brought in strategic investors including Beenext with Anirudh Garg, Tekton Ventures, and Febe, all of whom deeply understand the evolution happening in cloud marketplaces.

What these investors saw was a fundamental market shift. While sellers and ISVs are rapidly moving to cloud marketplaces, there's a critical missing piece: actually connecting with and serving enterprise buyers effectively. The traditional go-to-market approach isn't working anymore, but simply listing on marketplaces isn't enough either. What's needed is a completely new way to bring buyers and sellers together.

This funding is enabling us to build that solution - a platform that not only gives buyers visibility across marketplaces but personalizes their entire journey. We're creating intelligent matches between enterprise buyers and sellers, making the whole ecosystem more efficient. Our investors believe, as we do, that this is how the future of enterprise purchasing will work.

CEOCFO: How was the investment used?

Mr. Srivastava: Since securing the funding, we've been laser-focused on building and refining our flagship buyer focused product, Compass, which we're launching at AWS re:Invent. What excites me most about this launch is that Compass represents exactly what we heard buyers asking for - a way to turn marketplace complexity into strategic advantage. We've invested significantly in building the core technology that gives buyers unprecedented visibility across marketplaces, developing the intelligence layer for strategic decision-making, and creating an intuitive experience that makes complex procurement simple.

CEOCFO: What is your geographic reach today and what would you like it to be?

Mr. Srivastava: Our reach is global by design - both in how we serve customers and how we've built our team. On the customer side, we can support any enterprise going through cloud transformation, since we work closely with AWS, Azure, and GCP's global infrastructure. Our only real boundary is where these hyperscalers operate, which today means virtually everywhere.

What's unique about Flywl is that we've embraced this global mindset from day one. While we're headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, we've built strong engineering and product teams across South America and Asia. This gives us access to exceptional talent worldwide and helps us better understand the nuances of different markets.

CEOCFO: Put it together for our readers; there are so many new ideas to look at. Why is Flywl important?

Mr. Srivastava: Here's what makes Flywl fundamentally important: everyone in the market today sees cloud marketplaces as the end-state. They're all innovating towards what exists, treating it as a process to be optimized. But we see something different - we see a problem that needs to be completely reimagined.

When you shift your perspective from process to problem, you can change the game. That's exactly what we've done at Flywl. We're not just iterating on the existing marketplace model - we're reinventing it by creating what we call a meta-marketplace. This puts buyers in charge of how they discover and engage with sellers, while giving sellers new ways to reach the right customers.

And here's what's really powerful: because we're building intelligence into both sides of the marketplace, we're creating a true Flywl effect. Buyers get the visibility and control they need to optimize spending and shift from CapEx to OpEx. Sellers get better analytics and engagement tools to reduce their cost of sales. These benefits compound over time as our platform adapts.

Ultimately, what makes us the most relevant player in this space is that we're not just solving today's marketplace friction - we're guiding enterprises through their entire modernization journey. When a company can confidently navigate all marketplaces, optimize software spend, and accelerate their transformation - that's when we know we've succeeded in our mission.

Flywl | Platform for Cloud Business | Cloud Platform for Business | Cloud Meta-Marketplace | Ankur Srivastava | Flywl - Reimagining how Cloud Marketplaces Work by Creating a Completely New Way for Enterprises to Discover, Evaluate, and Purchase Software | CEO Interviews 2024 | Business Services Companies | Global Company | Flywheel Dynamix | Cloud Meta Marketplace | Simplify Cloud Transactions | Simplifying Cloud Transactions | Cloud Marketplaces Buyers Guide | Flywl Press Releases, News

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